Archives for June 2014

The Jason Kidd deal is official. The Milwaukee Bucks just sent out a press release announcing the dismissal of Larry Drew. The entire release is below, and it makes no mention of Jason Kidd. (only because they can’t until he’s under contract, but obviously we all know the news by now)

“Soccer is the sport of the future in America, and it always will be.”

That’s the joke we’ve heard our entire lives here in the United States. Or as Comedian John Oliver put it a couple weeks ago: “I know that in America, soccer is just something you pick your ten-year-old daughter up from.”

Perhaps, The Simpsons nailed it perfectly. This post from Slate profiles an early ’90s episode that conveyed exactly what Americans USED TO think about soccer. I emphasized “used to” because, things have changed since then.

To use the cliche, “numbers don’t lie” and ESPN produced some IMPRESSIVE numbers from the USA versus Portugal match.

Now that the 2014 NBA Draft is in the books, draft nets like myself can look ahead to next year’s class. Here is The Sports Bank’s extremely premature 2015 NBA Mock Draft where team needs and outstanding trades have NOT been taken into account. Click on the player’s name for an in-depth draft profile. By the way, The Sports Bank had the most accurate NBA Mock Draft in both 2011 and 2012 along with the second most accurate mock in 2013.

According to numerous reports, via the Associated Press, Chris Bosh told the Miami Heat today that he is opting out of the last two years of his contract, and will join the other two members of “the big three,” LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, as free agents. So in about 30 or so hours, all three will officially become free agents.

Miami Heat forwards Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem joined guard Dwyane Wade in opting out of their contracts, leaving Norris Cole as the only player the team has under contract heading into the 2014 free agency period.

Cole is scheduled to make $2,038,206 this season, and Shabazz Napier – who the Heat acquired in a draft-night trade from the Charlotte Hornets – will carry a $1,032,200 cap hit until he signs a contract later this summer. [Read more…]

Today, we feature another handful of Cubs’ prospects, including one recently added to the team’s 40-man roster and another who, despite an injury that sidelined him for most of last season, is rapidly moving through the system.

Legendary Dutch footballer Ruud van Nistelrooy is currently serving as a studio analyst during ESPN’s month-long presentation of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Van Nistelrooy will appear on pre-match, halftime and post-match shows, SportsCenter and ESPN FC during the World Cup.

It was a very, very long time coming, but Southampton left-back Luke Shaw complete his record-setting transfer to Manchester United. He received the most well compensated contract for a teenager in football history. And Ander Herrera was inked just a couple days before. Feyenoord‘s Stefan de Vrij is a name that’s coming up in reports.

Eastern Conference teams had their first four picks in the 2014 NBA Draft and in my opinion, did a better job of drafting than the Western Conference teams. The clearcut winner out of the west was the Los Angeles Lakers. Here are my 2014 NBA Draft grades for the Western Conference. Check out my Eastern Conference NBA Draft grades as well. [Read more…]

Sports Illustrated has to know that it’s days are numbered. I’ve been saying for year that the SI Swimsuit issue is the only reason we still have have a print edition of this publication. It makes so much money that SI can get away producing its weekly fish wrap for the other 51 weeks. Yes, Kate Upton is the only thing that’s kept the print version of Sports Illustrated alive this long.

And with this week’s cover story, it’s OBVIOUS that they know it too. To go with a story angle this desperate and dumb? It truly admits defeat.

Last season, the Seattle Seahawks showed the world something that most NFL coaches already knew – defense is what really wins championships. After the Seahawks completely dismantled Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, the rest of the NFL became more focused on defensive players, and because of this, the Cleveland Browns are now a much better team. [Read more…]